Authors who have influenced me.

November 17th, 2010 § 0 comments § permalink

(Image created using Wordle)
I begin by using words from Bilbo Baggins‘ speech:

I haven’t read half of what I should have read and half of what I have read I shouldn’t have read in the first place

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Daily DB Backups FTW!!

October 16th, 2010 § 3 comments § permalink

I did something stupid last night: I deleted this blog.

Yes. I DELETED it.

Last night, I was cleaning out my various test installs on my cPanel – you know, phpBB, BuddyPress, bbPress & a few of my own pathetic attempts at LAMP coding. While trying to delete one of those DBs, I accidentally deleted the MySQL DB that handles THIS blog. The worst part is I didn’t realize what I’d done until this morning when the blog showed a “500 Internal Server Error”.

My heart sank.

And then I remembered that I had installed the WP-DB-Backup plugin. I was taking daily backups & emailing it to myself! FTW! The rest of the process was pretty simple:

  1. Create a new database with the same name as in your wp-config.php file.
  2. Download the latest backup file from your email inbox.
  3. Go to phpMyAdmin & import the latest backup file that you just downloaded.

That’s it. The blog is now ‘back up’ online! :)

In hindsight, it probably doesn’t seem like a big deal – but it would have been a HUGE deal had I not activated the WP-DB-Backup plugin in the first place. What would have happened if I hadn’t activated the plugin & didn’t have daily backups?

*shudder*

The One-Nine-Ninety Principle

October 11th, 2010 § 0 comments § permalink

This morning, as I was sifting through my Twitter timeline, I happened to chance upon a tweet that referenced Derek Sivers’ post, “Leadership Lessons from Dancing Guy” which has Derek’s using a funny video of a dancing guy to demonstrate the finer nuances of leadership. Trawling through the comments led me to another YouTube video titled Bodhisattva in Metro.

Both excellent, must-see videos, IMHO.
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Story of the d.ustb.in

September 15th, 2010 § 0 comments § permalink

(Image: The Lonely Dustbin by Rajiv Ashrafi on Flickr.)

How many times have you had an idea that you were sure would shake the very foundation of an existing belief? And the, suddenly, something comes along that prompts you to say, “F**K! That was MY idea!”

Well, finders keepers, they say.

When I saw Chris Nolan‘s Inception, I cursed myself for being lazy enough to NOT post “Window” (part one, two & three) earlier. I’d chalked up the story, plotted the basics but never actually got around to writing it. And that’s how I lost the plot – literally & figuratively.

And that prompted me to work on another idea I’ve had for a while – the d.ustb.in.

What is the d.ustb.in? It’s an online short-fiction magazine where your short-stories will be featured for the world to read. However, unlike other magazines, we don’t ask for exclusive publishing rights. We want your story to be read by people far & wide – that means you can submit it to the others, come back & submit it to us, too! :)

The downside? We don’t charge, hence, we don’t pay. :(

The d.ustb.in is intended to be a platform for short-story lovers everywhere. The initial plan is to feature an anthology of short-fiction every week. Soon enough, we intend to publish it as a fortnightly or monthly magazine, featuring an anthology of submitted stories. Heck, we even hope to be able to pay our authors someday, soon! :)

Go ahead, submit your story, spread the word – feed the d.ustb.in! :)

If ads could rant…

August 31st, 2010 § 0 comments § permalink

Hey!

HEY, YOU! I am talking to you! Yes, YOU! Look around. Is there anyone else who’s reading this? No! So, do I have your ‘undivided attention,’ now? Sheesh, the things a poor advertisement has to do to get noticed these days!

Honestly, I already feel utterly neglected!
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Window (Part 3/3)

August 27th, 2010 § 0 comments § permalink

The story so far: (Part 1 & Part 2)
Two people in an oblong, stretched room are searching for a window. They find it – minimized. They open it, go through the window, enter oblivion & step out into a brand, new world.

*******

“Looks the same. Feels the same. We can’t be too far away from the fork.”
“It depends on how you look at it, really. If you’re looking to get as far away from A.R. as possible this would be a very bad place to end up. on the other hand, if you want to return to A.R. as soon as possible – this is the best place to be.”

A.R. is Absolute Reality – the universe that we all live in. Everything else is A*R – Alternate Reality. You see, dreams have a universe of their own. Every time you dream, you are actually creating an parallel universe – an alternate reality. Every choice you make, every decision you take is a pathway to this parallel universe, this alternate reality. Dreams are direct windows to these alternate universes.

That is where we come into the picture.

We are tA/ARP – the Alternate/Absolute Reality Patrol. Our job is to edit the Alternate Realities that could be detrimental to our Absolute Reality. Often this is accomplished by influencing the subject into believing that the Alternate Reality in question is detrimental to their *own* existence.

Simple, yet elegant, isn’t it?

“Sure. Let’s get this show on the road.”

Our destination was a posh-looking apartment in the middle of one of the richest areas of the city. The subject apparently lived on the top floor – clearly, things had worked out well in this scenario. How else would you explain a penthouse flat? I was impressed. The subject had chosen well. Heck, I wouldn’t mind having a pad here!

The lift opened into (what looked like) a well-decorated lobby – or is it called an ante-chamber? A butler greeted us upon arrival. A butler, eh? I thought to myself. Impressive. We were ushered into a large study that also served as a home-office. The subject sat behind a large table that looked like it was made out of mahogany, or ebony, or whatever it is that the rich guys keep bragging about.

“Who are you & what do you want?”
“Mr. Smith, we are from the I.R.S. and we’re here to investigate you.”

Mr. Smith is, quite obviously, an alias. I can’t tell you the subject’s real name. What I can tell you is this: the subject in question was offered a large bribe in exchange for trade-secrets – you now, the kind a competitor would pay for. The RA team (Risk Assessment team) at tA/ARP estimated that there was a 99.375% probability that the subject would eventually become a bigger menace if left unchecked.

“But… but… I…”

“We know everything, Mr. Smith. I must admit, you have come a long way from corporate espionage – you sell state secrets now. I’m impressed! However, it also ensures that you will be going away for a long, LONG time.”
Like I said earlier, our job is to influence the subject. A gullible mind is easy to influence if you have your story right. In this case, influencing him meant scaring him. By the looks of it, the commander seemed to be doing a fine job. I could see the subject turning pale. I could sense the panic building in him. I could feel the fear emanating from him. Heck, I could almost read his thoughts. This alternate reality wasn’t well-constructed at all; which meant that he hadn’t thought it through. This was going to be easy – right out of the textbook.

“Mr. Smith, from this moment on you are under arrest. Here’s the warrant. As of this moment all your accounts have been frozen. You are to not to leave your house without permission from the court. Do you understand me?”
“Y-y-y-e-s.”

We had the guy where we wanted him – in the corner, sweating his pants off. The rest of it was pretty standard procedure.

“You have the right to remain silent…”
————
“The skies have begun to fall. The A*R is crumbling. Time to leave, 101. Is the subject asleep?”
“Yes. I’ve set up the re-insertion equipment. I also added a little extra to ensure a smooth ride back.”
“Good. Keep an eye out for the skirting tile that looks like aminimized window on the taskbar.”

I smiled & said, “Ready & waiting.”

*******
And thus, the story concludes. But first, a disclaimer: I had thought of this story much before “Inception” released – I hadn’t gotten around to writing it. I hope you’ll believe me. And yes, do let me know what you think. Thanks for dropping by! :)
——
Footnotes:

Window (Part 2/3)

August 25th, 2010 § 0 comments § permalink

The story so far: (Part 1)
Two people in an oblong, stretched room are searching for a window. After looking high & low, one of them chances upon a tile in the skirting that looks suspicious. They press it and…

*******

A window squeezed out of the tile & positioned itself on the wall.

We’d seen our share of windows during training – baroque, gothic, neo, ionic, greek, modern, post-modern and all that. But this one took the cake, the icing, the cherry & all that. I’d once seen a window that was so small, it looked no more than a ventilation hole. The room ended up looking like solitary confinement. I learnt later the owner had been wrongly imprisoned & then tortured in jail. I guess things you have a deep hatred for _do_ leave a really deep impression.

Or things you love.
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